Promise (Kotobuki Reiji x OC)
by Sophie-U.F
Summary: An old promise... An old friend... An old love... What if it all comes back?
1. Promise

It all started a long time ago… Well, it really wasn't that much if we consider the length of time; but it all started early in her life, so, for her, it had been a long time…

~~~17 years back…~~~  
"Catch me, Melody-chan! If you can, that is!" laughed the 8 year old brunette boy.  
"Stop, Rei-kun! Wait for me!" a tiny voice echoed behind him.  
As the duo ran happily around the house, their parents smiled brightly at their antics. The mothers kept them in sight and never ceased the warnings of carefulness; the fathers, on the other side, laughed and joked loudly by the fireplace. The two families were good friends, and upon their meeting, the children befriended each other rather quickly as well.  
The boy, 5 years older than the little girl, held said girl dearly and always did his best to protect her when and if push came to shove; and, living close by, they saw each other nearly everyday.  
"Do you think they'll get married when they grow up?" giggled the boy's mother.  
"They have too, just look at them, so perfect for one another!" cooed the girl's mother.  
The fathers laughed at both their wives before carrying on with their conversation.  
"Don't overdo it, Reiji, otherwise she'll get tired and give up." Warned the boy's father.  
"Yes, dad, I know!" nodded the boy, suddenly jumping onto the sofa and calling towards his back: "Come on, Melody-chan!"  
It took a bit for the girl to finally reach the sofa and, when she finally did, she was unable to climb on top of it; Reiji once more entered on cue, sliding down from his seat, picking her up with his small arms and sitting her on the couch.  
"There, Melody-chan!" he grinned brightly, proud of his feat.  
"Thank you, Rei-kun!" she giggled cutely, before asking seriously: "Can you do my hair?"  
"Of course I can!" he beamed as the girl's mother handed him a brush and a couple of hair ties. "What do you want me to make you?"  
"Hmm…" she appeared to be thinking extremely hard. "Braids!"  
"Melody-chan, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Reiji asked as he styled her hair into two cute little braids.  
"A dancer!" she stated proudly. "And you, Rei-chan?"  
"A singer! I want to sing and make people happy!" he said, determined. "Hey, if you end up not dancing, you could come and sing with me!"  
"I don't know…"  
"Come on, it would be cute if we sang together!" cheered the brunette.  
Soon, it was time to dinner, so the two families sat together, ate and chatted throughout the night. Later on, when the adults were finally finished, they found the children sleeping on the sofa, cuddled together, sound asleep.

~~~15 years back~~~  
"Guess who! Guess who!" an all too familiar voice echoed in Melody's little ears as something covered her eyes.  
"Who is it?" echoed the same voice one more time.  
"Is it… Rei-chan?" she wondered cutely.  
"We must really be destined to stick together, Melody-chan!" grinned the brunette. "You even know it's me at the 'guess who' game!"  
The girl opened her big eyes and turned around; her guess had been right, so she smiled a big toothy grin. Retributing the smile, Reiji picked up the younger girl in a hug and twirled her around.  
"I'm sure you'll be my wife, Melody-chan! Cause if that doesn't happen then we'll be with the wrong people!" declared the brunette decidedly, suddenly being interrupted by a cyan-haired boy.  
"You're worrying, Reiji, idiot!" muttered Aine, the brunette's bestfriend and Melody's cousin.  
"I don't want to be with the wrong person…" said the girl worriedly, believing in all the boy's words with her 5 year old naiveté; to what, in response, Reiji smiled and nodded, after ignoring the cyan-head.  
"Then you have to marry me! We can get through everything together!" beamed the brunette.  
"I guess you're right…" she agreed, puffing her cheeks in thought.  
"I'm always right! So, you have to promise you'll marry me someday!" he declared in all seriousness.  
"Kotobuki-san, that's not the right way to propose to a girl!" scolded a girl from their neighbourhood, who happened to be in the park that they with them.  
Reiji gasped in realisation. He told Melody to wait beside her cousin and quickly ran up to his mother who was talking with Aine's and Melody's mothers, he asked them something and Aine's mother gave him a piece of wire she happened to have in her bag. With his back turned to his friends, the brunette played with the bit of wire for a few seconds, before running back to his playmates with his hands behind his back.  
Reiji suddenly kneeled down before her and smiled brightly at her tiny frame.  
"Yukimura Melody, will you promise me that, when we grow up, you will marry me?" he asked, helding his head solemnly high.  
"I promise!" nodded the brunette with the brightest smile she could muster. With that said, Reiji took the girl's tiny left hand and slipped the small wire circlet onto her ring finger.  
The girls on the playground giggled at the scene while the boys, with the exception of Aine, snickered at him and sent him weird looks. However, Reiji could not have cared less; he was going to marry his little princess, it was a promise that he vowed he would never break.

~~~10 years back~~~  
Reiji and Aine were 15 years old, Melody was now 10. Despite their age difference, things never did change; Reiji kept faithful to his promise and never did get a girlfriend. All seemed to be going well, and it should've been so…  
Unfortunately, not all that is is destined to remain…  
It was a stormy night, Melody was staying at Reiji's house for her parents had gone out to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Dinner, games, everything was wonderful, until, at about 11pm a call came in, it was from the hospital… Melody's parents had died… An explosion in the restaurant had been the cause.  
After her parents' death notice, she moved away to live with her mother's parents in Italy; ever since that day, Reiji had never seen her again…


	2. Coming Back

"Signorina Melody!" her teacher called, calling the lonely girl's attention.  
"Yes, Madonna Lucia?" wondered the brunette, fidgeting nervously a little under the strict gaze of the instructor.  
"This letter came in for you, it holds a proposal from a school in Japan." Stated the adult woman. "If you decide to accept it, warn me in up to 2 days-time so that things may be taken care of!"  
"Yes, Madonna!"

~~~~~

That night, before going to bed, she opened the letter… It was from no other than Shining Saotome himself, he was asking her if she wouldn't like to join the courses in his music Academy.  
In all honesty, she missed Japan dearly; especially her friends and family, as she was never truly able to get integrated in the new country…  
As hours ran by and silence increased, Melody laid down upon the aqua coloured covers of her soft bed; as her eyes closed, flashes from the past took over her sight, lulling her into a deep and peaceful sleep.  
On the following morning, before people could even begin waking up, Melody ran in her nightgown to the principal's office, Madonna Lucia's office to be more exact. In a rush, she threw the door opened, causing the older woman to raise her gaze from her paperwork up to the newcomer.  
"What do you wish, signorina?" sighed the adult, raising an eyebrow at the odd behaviour of the usually shy student.  
"Madonna, I wish to attend Saotome Academy in Japan!"  
"Very well."

~~~~~

The following two days were the longest days of her entire life; she simply could not wait to go back, to see her cousin Aine, to see Reiji whom she had missed so dearly and her mind refused to forget.  
At midday during the second day, she finally left; she stepped away from the dance academy and closer to the airport, where a new yet familiar life would be waiting for her, or so she hopped…  
With a final thought, she abandoned Italy:  
'Wait for me, Reiji, Aine, I'm returning to you at last!'


	3. News

Finally, after long hours of dreaded waiting, the plane reached the grounds of the country she had waited long years to return to, Japan…  
The mere acts of collecting the luggage and checking out took what appeared to be forever, at least in her eyes. In what had been really 15 minutes, had felt like 3 hours to her, until she was finally outside, spotted the driver who had been waiting to pick her up and entered the rather flashy white limousine.  
'Only a bit more…' she thought. 'After a while, I can go and see them!'  
With that last thought, Melody put on a long she had grown to like over time that belonged to a Japanese band: Quartet Night… She had become somewhat of a fan of the band due to an acquaintance back in Italy; she loved her songs and even swooned over the four, however she was one of those airheaded people who knew only of the members' first names, completely ignoring their lasts. At the sound of Ai and Camus' song, 'Dearest', she eventually drifted into a deep slumber…

~~~~~

"Do you know why I asked you to come here today?" Shining Saotome's glasses twinkled brightly as he gazed over the four idols that stood before him somewhat confusedly.  
"You mean… why you called us right now, or…?" Reiji asked rather innocently; receiving a sudden slap to the back of his head from one of his band mates. "That was mean, RanRan!" cried out the brunette with a small pout, holding his head with both hands much like a child would.  
"He means now, idiot!" growled the rocker violently, ignoring the brunette's childish antics.  
"I do mean now!" spoke the director in an unusually serious tone. "So, no one?"  
"I have a few possible theories, but cannot tell which would or not be the correct one." Stated plainly the cyan-haired male.  
"Since no one says anything. I am…" the older man paused dramatically; suddenly getting up, placing one foot upon his desk and pointing his finger towards the wooden ceiling he declared with an enthusiastic laugh: "…assigning you a manager!"  
The next seconds were spent in silence, before someone decided to break the silence.  
"Why exactly do we need a manager?" asked Camus, clearly showing his disgust towards the idea.  
"Yeah, we've been doing fairly well on our own!" huffed Ranmaru, letting out his own annoyance about the news.  
Reiji, on the other side, simply adopted a thoughtful pose as he attempted to ponder everything.  
As for Ai, he fully comprehended the reasons, and so stated them: "A manager is necessary for our prosperity in the music world. We have been doing well on our own so far, but we are not able to organize individual and group schedules all by ourselves; as such, our careers will begin to fall into decline if we continue without managing aid."  
"Exactly!" laughed loudly Saotome, opting for a flashy exit at that same moment; however his voice still echoed behind: "Your meeting with the new manager is tomorrow at 2pm!"  
For a minute, the quartet remained silent, until Reiji decide to turn around to face his co-workers.  
"I guess we'll have to go to the meeting tomorrow then, right?" cheered the brunette, obtaining but grunts of disgust and annoyance from Camus and Ranmaru.


	4. Pre-Meeting

At 1h30 three young men stood at a meeting room, two of them appeared to be rather calm whereas the other one seemed rather annoyed as they waited for the missing member of their band.

"What the hell is taking him so long?" complained Ranmaru, getting up from his sit and glaring daggers at the door as if it would cause anything to happen. At this, Camus sighed softly and gently put down his tea cup.

"If he doesn't show up, then I will ignore this meeting as well!" stated the count, clearly annoyed.

Ai crossed his arms and let out a small sigh of his own, but before he could voice his opinion, the door was shot open, revealing no other than their own goofball.

"Guys!" shot the brunette excitedly, his overflowing happiness only increasing the others' annoyance.

"Can you not keep your voice down for one day, Kotobuki?" Camus barked.

"Just shut up, Reiji!" complained the albino, angrily rubbing the back of his neck as he glared at the brunette.

"You're noisy, Reiji. Please be more silent." Ai added as well, always keeping his monotone expression.

"Why are you guys so cruel?" Reiji's happiness suddenly turned into whines as, one by one, his co-workers told him to keep quiet; said co-workers simply rolled their eyes at the older man's childish antics.

"Are there any more news?" inquired the cyan-head, leaning back on his chair as he looked intently at the brunette.

"Oh, yeah!" cheered Reiji, twirling around and declaring with a gigantic grin: "We have two new duets and a new group song! For the duets, I'll be paired with RanRan and My-chan with AiAi!"

"You have to be joking!" growled the silverette, jolting up from his seat while glaring at his partner with what could be described as pure annoyance.

"Ah, don't worry, RanRan!" laughed brightly the brunette, then putting out his finger and winking. "I'm excited too!"

The rocker groaned in disgust as he attempted to hold back the immense urge of hitting his head against the wall.

"At least I did not get paired with Kurosaki!" declared Camus, peacefully sipping his tea.

"I agree, this way I don't have to be paired with an idiot." Ai stated bluntly, gaining a rather sarcastic fake laugh from Ranmaru.

"You're all so mean…" sobbed Reiji dramatically; however, his childish manners were interrupted when his phone suddenly signalled a text.

"Our new manager is almost here!" cheered loudly the older of the four, shoving his phone in the others' faces so they could see the message he had just received from Shining, only to be ignored as was usual.

"Indeed, Lazy Rocker Butt!" shot Camus, after having copied Ranmaru's sarcastic laugh.

"Fake Count!" retorted the rocker.

"You fall asleep while working and drool over the papers!" Camus.

"You sleep with stuffed toys!" Ranmaru.

"Useless!"

"Freak!"

"Stop, guys! The newbie is nearly arriving!" Reiji tried to speak up, but was ignored yet again.

"Your bass is your girlfriend!"

"You're a stupid count with an 180 degrees personality flip!"

By this moment, the two were standing up and glaring fiercely at each other; mildly entertained, Ai moved from his seat so he could observe the argument better.

"Hot-headed dumbass!"

"Snobby Count!"

"Guys…" Reiji began, but the sound of the door's shyly opening interrupted him and succeeded in catching every member's attention.

"Excuse me…" sounded a foreign voice.

"Wait, manager? I thought the invitation was to study!"

"No, miss Yukimura! I invited you here to be a manager of the band Quartet Night and their choreographer!"

After the small encounter with the director of the Shining Agency, she was left alone to find her way to the meeting room with only 5 minutes left for 2pm.

The Master Course building was enormous, to say the least, and after walking through an endless number of corridors there was no mistaking it, she was most definitely lost, or so she thought…

"Useless!" "Freak!" "Your bass is your girlfriend!" "You're a stupid count with an 180 degrees personality flip!"

The loud shouts and growls echoed from a room not far from where she was.

'I wonder…' thought Melody.

One step after the other, she approached the aimed door, she was already late anyway, so what harm could it make…?

"Hot-headed dumbass!" "Snobby Count!"

Slowly, she reached towards the door and softly pushed it open. As she peeked into the room, the division fell silent as all gazes turned to her.

"Excuse me…" she fearfully called out. "Is this the meeting room #6?"


	5. Introductions

At the doorway stood a girl, she was fairly shorter than any of them and a little younger as well, though far from a child.

"Yes, this is the room, dear lady!" responded Camus, who had stopped discussing to greet the newcomer with an elegant bow.

"Are you our new manager?" inquired excitedly the oldest one in the room.

"Y-yes, it's an honour to meet you all!" she blurted out, after having been urged inside by the brunette.

"You don't even know us yet." Grumbled Ranmaru.

"Of course I do, you are Quartet Night!" she retorted softly, the corners of her lips turned lightly upwards in a shy smile as she gripped the papers she had earlier been given tightly to her chest. "You're fairly famous throughout, even a bit in Europe and such… You're Ranmaru, Camus, Ai and Reiji!" she stated, pointing respectively at each (the rocker, the count, the robot, the goofball) as the names were called out.

"My data indicates that she is a fan." Stated the bluenette rather bluntly.

"Y-you could say that…" muttered the girl in response as she shifted lightly under their focused gazes.

"Ah?!" gasped Reiji. "We get to work with a fan, isn't that great?" he cheered.

"And what exactly is your name, girl?" huffed Ranmaru, clearly tired of all the mess and time waste.

"(L/n) (F/n), I look forward to working with you all!" she declared with a bow. Four little smiles found their way into each of the band's members as they carefully observed the newbie's actions and reactions.

After a small talk about the following day's work schedules, the quartet helped the girl to find her way to her new quarters; then, each went down their separate ways.

'(L/n)… (L/n)… That sounds familiar…!' thought Reiji; he knew the name from somewhere, however he couldn't quite pinpoint it.


	6. A day with Ai (part1)

It was her first day working and she was to spend the day with Ai; Saotome had left clear that he wanted her to 'shadow' each member of the band for an entire day, in order to get used to each of them before actually starting to work seriously together with all the four…  
It was 6am when the door of her bedroom was violently thrown open, startling her awake. For a moment, she sat on the bed, dumbfounded, as she stared incredulously at the cyan-haired male at the door.  
"Mikaze-san…?" she asked, somewhat fearfully.  
"Why are you still in bed?" he demanded in a rather serious tone.  
"It's 6am…"  
"We are already behind schedule!" he noted, his arms crossed in front of his chest as his fixed gaze left the newbie shifting uncomfortably. "If you wish to accompany me on my work today, then you will have to follow my routine!"  
"Oh, okay…" she stuttered nervously as the teenager finally left, after delivering to her a piece of paper with the 'routine'.  
6h wake up; 6h01 bath; 6h06 dress; 6h010 ready everything to go; 6h30 breakfast; 7h practice; 8h leave; 8h30 film shooting; 12h lunch; 13h photoshoot; 16h interview  
At the end, she noticed a little side note: 'The interview should be over at 17h, at that time we will come back to the dormitory.'  
"Well, that's a relief…" she uttered a comment regarding he side note, but not before opting to shower at night as it was already 6h07.  
Quickly, she pulled on a pair of jeans and an aqua t-shirt, before beginning to gather her notebook, pens, agenda, everything she might need during the day.  
"This is going to be a long day…" she sighed, before heading downstairs for breakfast.

"Hey, Melody-chan!" a rather cheery voice took the girl's conscience away from her thoughts, urging her to look at the source of the sound.  
"Oh, good morning, Kotobuki-san!" she greeted politely, before taking notice of the others. "Camus-san, Kurosaki-san!"  
The last two didn't exactly respond, one nodded and the other grunted; however, a certain brunette wasn't all too happy, as he ran up and clinged tightly to the girl.  
"So cold!" he whined loudly, surprising the girl. "I'm not Kotobuki-san, I'm Rei-chan! Rei-chan!"  
Annoyed scolding rose from his co-workers, they were sure that his odd and unreasonable behaviours were greatly bothering the manager.  
"Okay, I'm sorry, Rei-chan!" acceded the girl, a soft smile was painted on her features as she patted the older man's back, having ignored everyone else's protests.  
"Really?" wondered the brunette, beaming with pure happiness. The brunette simply nodded in assurance, before finding herself being forcefully dragged towards the table where everyone sat eating.

"Have you seen Mikaze-san?" asked suddenly Melody as she finished eating the toast that Reiji had offered to prepare for her.  
"He's already at one of the studios practicing." answered Camus instead, while sipping on his cup of tea.  
"Oh alright, thank you!" thanked the girl, before dashing off after realizing that it was already 7h10. A few metres into one of the corridors, she stopped, blinked and calmly walked back.  
Three pairs of confused eyes turned, not having expected to see her again so soon.  
"Hm…" she shifted uncomfortably under their gaze, her cheeks were bright red due to the embarrassment she felt. "Where are the studios…?" she inquired shyly, eliciting a snort from the rocker, a small smile from the noble and a soft chuckle from the band's leader.  
"In that corridor!" informed Reiji, pointing the way opposite to where she had first run off towards.  
"Thank you!" she blurted once again, before dashing away yet again.


End file.
